CPI Asia – Page 125

Pakatan treads carefully as royalty flexes muscle

February 14, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/18342-pakatan-treads-carefully-as-royalty-flexes-muscle

Published by The Malaysian Insider

February 14, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — While Barisan Nasional may yet pay at the ballot box over its ruthless power grab in Perak, its aggressive foray has put Pakatan Rakyat on the ropes, with its parties mulling an uncertain future and the possibility of a powerful enemy it could do without — the Malay Rulers.

Beyond the prospect of dealing with a resurgent BN and Umno, adept at using the advantages that come with being in power, the PR parties of Pas, PKR and DAP will now have to tread very carefully in dealing with the royalty.

Yesterday, Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah made it quite clear in a public statement that he was unhappy with what he perceived to be the rudeness shown against his uncle Sultan Azlan Shah over the latter’s role in the Perak political impasse.

You know what the 3 Aduns did last March?

February 12, 2009 by llmaelynn

In tandem with the rapid fire developments in Perak, the media itself is also being cast an intriguing role. Even whilst it reports, it has become a topic reported about too.

The Home Ministry seized almost 20,000 copies of Suara Keadilan which frontpaged the Perak constitutional crisis, PKR information chief Tian Chua told a press conference yesterday.

Copies of Harakah bearing the banner headline ‘SPR memihak BN’ (Election Commission sides with BN) were seized in a few states as well. Malaysiakini reported that distributors have been warned not to sell the PAS bi-weekly newsletter.

The Home Ministry confirmed that it launched an operation to seize the publications – a move questioned by Tian Chua who challenged: “Tell us why. You can’t just go around confiscating from distributors???.

The Monkey Handler

February 12, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://www.bakrimusa.com/archives/the-monkey-handler

February 8, 2009

In the few months that he has before assuming office I would have expected Prime Minister-in-waiting Najib Razak to be focused on forming his new leadership team and formulating his major policies. Instead there he was in Perak smirking with renegade state politicians who had crossed over to his Barisan coalition. Najib looked like a mischievous monkey handler who had successfully enticed a couple of wily monyets from the neighbor’s coconut tree to his.

In these perilous times Najib is more a slimy backroom political operative consumed with concocting shady deals than a national leader ready to steer the nation through tough economic and other challenges. This latest and unneeded upheaval in Perak only adds to Malaysia’s already muddled political climate, and comes at a time when the nation can ill afford this distraction. Najib is oblivious of the evolving global economic disaster and its inevitable impact on Malaysia.

Bukit Gantang a referendum for both BN and Pakatan

February 12, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/136-breaking-views/17941-bukit-gantang-a-referendum-for-both-bn-and-pakatan-leslie-lau

Published by the Malaysian Insider
February 9, 2008

FEB 9 – Someday, historians may well look back on the events in Perak in the past few weeks and see the death today of Pas MP for Bukit Gantang Roslan Shaharom as a tipping point which eventually decides the fortunes of the country’s biggest political players.

For Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN), it is quite possibly the last thing they need.

Fighting public perception that their takeover of the Perak state government last week was immoral, unethical or even unconstitutional, they are looking at being given time to prove they can offer a better administration than the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance.

Having a by-election so soon after the dramatic events of the past few days will be a referendum, of some sort, of how public feels about the continuing political drama and impasse.

Malaysia’s Opposition Continues to Defy Sultan

February 12, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1709&Itemid=178

Monday, 09 February 2009

A heated political squabble could be spreading to other parts of the country

Malaysia’s political furor shows every sign of growing more heated, with the chief minister of the tin-rich state of Perak, Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, continuing to defy Sultan Raja Azlan Shah’s order to vacate the Perak statehouse after a coup engineered by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and the United Malays National Organisation.

The ouster of the Pakatan Rakyat government in the state, one of the country’s richest, has thrown Malaysian national politics into turmoil, with additional rumors that the Kedah government, also controlled by the Pakatan coalition led by national opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in the wake of elections last March, could be wobbling as well. Anwar has threatened a national barnstorming tour of rallies to stir his opposition forces into action.

Ancient Mariner on Another PKFZ in the making …

February 11, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://cyusof.blogspot.com/2009/02/another-pkfz-in-making.html

February 8, 2009

Another PKFZ in the making …

The Malaysian Insider, here, has quoted a Singapore The Straits Times (TST) report today that a worsening ownership battle for a planned Malaysian bunkering facility on a reclaimed island in Johor to rival Singapore’s is threatening to derail the project and could hurt CIMB, one of the country’s largest commercial banks.

It appears that the project leader, a little-known private company called KIC Oil and Gas, has so far drawn down nearly half of its RM1.4 billion financing facility from CIMB to fund construction work. But it has failed to resolve problems with another key shareholder of the project, Seaport Terminal, which owns both the Johor ports of Pasir Gudang and Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas (PTP). This has prompted CIMB to consider suspending further funding for the construction.

A mockery of Our Democratic Institution

February 11, 2009 by llmaelynn

This is a good piece by Hannah Yeoh, a young and intelligent ADUN just back from the USA where she was one of two Malaysians picked by the US Embassy to attend Obama’s inauguration. Her thoughts on the Anwar-Najib defection comparisons re Perak Crisis is sharp and most relevant. I am most glad I voted her as my ADUN in Subang Jaya. MAlaysia needs more young, intelligent leaders like her.

Amelia

EDITOR’S NOTE: The article was sent by one of our readers (Amelia) to our Director, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, and CPI is happy to help publicise Hannah Yeoh’s piece of fine writing. – YL Chong

Friday, February 6, 2009
http://hannahyeoh.blogspot.com/2009/02/mockery-of-our-democratic-institution.html

A mockery of our democratic institution
To those who argue that the political crisis in Perak now is a taste of Pakatan’s own medicine (referring to the Sept 16 takeover plan), they have failed to see the key differences between the two. If you remember what happened when Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim claimed to have the numbers to form the new federal government, he wrote to PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi requesting him to convene an emergency sitting of Parliament.

The Perak Consitutional Crisis: Who Is to Blame?

February 10, 2009 by llmaelynn

INTRODUCTION: The state of Perak has been plunged into a state of politcal chaos and uncertainty in the past few days when the Pakatan Rakyat-led government lost its 32-28 majority in the State Assembly following the switching of their political allegiance by four State Asemblymen on Wednesday, February 4, 2009, resulting in a “hung” assembly. Two assemblymen from PKR and one from DAP left their respective parties to become independents allied to BN, and the Bota state assemblyman who had recently joined PKR after defecting from UMNO, then returned to BN — creating a situation that has become essentially a Constitutional Crisis with an impact going beyond the borders of the Silver state.

STS reports…”Perakians tired of drama”

February 10, 2009 by llmaelynn

Hazlin Hassan susses out the online political fatigue in Perak.

February 9, 2009

In Kuala Lumpur

THE recent political upheaval in Malaysia’s northern Perak state is proving so divisive that some friends can no longer talk politics without ending up insulting each other.

Such arguments have spilled over onto the Internet, onto such seemingly harmless conduits such as the social network of Facebook, where “friends” attack each other with insults as they fervently support their own parties, justify or condemn the other’s actions.

Some have hailed Barisan Nasional’s move to take over the state government in Perak, and poked fun at former chief minister Nizar Jamaluddin’s infamous quote of asking to “mohon derhaka” or “go against the Sultan”. The opposition’s supporters have decried the BN supporters’ “poor memories” and recounted past instances of how the BN had gone against the monarchy.

Perak Constitutional Crisis- The Best Way Forward

February 9, 2009 by llmaelynn

Since the incumbent Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Perak Government was overturned on 5th Feb. 09, many creditable commentators such as Transparency International and Suhakam have expressed their views on this political crisis. Many ordinary people are also questioning the wisdom of the Perak Sultan, the former Lord President, in handling the case. Generally many people are dissatisfied and some even angry with the way in which the Government they elected to power in March last year and the Mentri Besar legally appointed have now been pushed out of office.